The players coming through the Brentford Academy have the ability to “play at the top level”, according to the man in charge of the Club’s youth development.
During a wide-ranging interview with Bees Player, Brentford FC Academy Director Ose Aibangee said he was excited by the players coming through the system.
He paid tribute to the staff at the Academy and said there were many future professional players in the ranks.
Brentford are entering teams in tournaments far and wide and Ose said this would help them develop, as would the indoor facility at Uxbridge High School.
“It is excellent lower down and it is testament to the staff – recruitment, coaching and support,” said Ose.
“We have some fantastic groups and some top individuals that will be professional players.
“My experience tells me we have players that can play at the top level.
“I am excited by the players coming through the system.”
Brentford have been in partnership with Uxbridge High School for the past two years with players attending the school and training in a Club-built indoor facility on site.
“The Uxbridge High School partnership is going really well,” said Ose.
“It has given us more time with the players, the facility is inspiring.
“Players and staff still look forward to going there.
“New players go there and it is a jaw-dropping venue.
“It gives you consistency with training.
“It is an excellent facility and an excellent partnership.”
A Brentford team will be entering the prestigious Milk Cup in Northern Ireland this summer.
The Bees will be in the Junior competition, which is mainly for Under-15 players.
It is the same tournament Brentford won in 2012 and Ose said his staff knew how to cope with the demands of the competition.
“We always have high hopes when we enter the Milk Cup,” he said.
“It will be another interesting tournament.
“It is an endurance tournament.
“You play every day, which is unheard of.
“The teams that win it prepare properly before and when they are out there.
“You need to make sure rest and recovery is right, nutrition is right.
“We have learnt along the way because we have been out there for a few years.”
Brentford have been to Lithuania, Spain and Florida for tournaments in the last 12 months and Ose said there were real benefits to attending them.
He said it was a learning opportunity for all and clubs now wanted to learn from his staff.
“The good thing about tournaments is that there is a lot of downtime,” said Ose.
“We have opportunities as Brentford staff to discuss and talk under less time pressure.
“You also get a chance to observe others.
“You learn a lot and coaches are quite open, as we are with them.
“We do pick up things.
“We have been invited to do a seminar in Portugal along with Bayern Munich and Sporting Lisbon about how we develop players.
“People want to learn how we do things.”
Ose said the success of Brentford in the Sky Bet Championship was also helping him get The Bees in to tournaments.
“The First Team doing well means we are seen as a bigger club,” he said.
“When we started we were begging to get in to tournaments.
“In Lithuania they asked us to go and we were arguably the biggest team, we were seen as the scalp.
“That brought different challenges for our players.
“We were the favourites and teams raised their level, which was a challenge for our boys.
“Winning that tournament was excellent, they dealt with the pressure of the opposition and crowd.
“We were the first English team to win it.”
The full video interview can be seen on Bees PlayerHD and more from Ose Aibangee will be on www.brentfordfc.co.uk tomorrow.